Whitley's Believe It Or Not: New York Yankees' grooming policy deserves more than a Bronx cheer
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A timeless debate reignited last week when a Yankees bat boy showed up looking more like Joe Dirt than Joe DiMaggio.
His hair cascaded down from his batting helmet, prompting broadcaster Michael Kay to sound the mullet alarm.
“Strange to see a Yankee uniform, somebody wearing that uniform with that sort of hair,” he said. "If the players aren’t allowed, I don’t know if the bat boy should be allowed.”
It turned out the guy was a loaner bat boy from the Guardians who was assigned to the Yankees for their series in Cleveland. There was no need to call in the New York Hair Police, but the incident reminded us all why America loves the Yankees
And hates the Yankees.
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They are loved for (among many reasons) their distinguished pinstriped look. They are hated for (among many reasons) being such sticks in the mud.
At the risk of sounding like George Steinbrenner yelling at a hippie batboy to get off his lawn, I like the club’s policy. The Boss banned facial hair (except for trimmed mustaches) and long hair 50 years ago. I’m not necessarily anti-beard, but it’s a little off-putting when your relief staff looks like ZZ Top.
That look used to be rebellious and cool. The 1972 Oakland A’s should be eternally lauded for breaking baseball’s infamous Mustache Barrier. Now, beards and crazy hair are mainstream in all of society. I half-expect Commissioner Rob Manfred to show up sporting a pink mohawk at the next owners meeting.
The sight of Aaron Judge standing next to the hairy batboy was amusing, but the guy’s mullet was tucked under his helmet the next night. It felt right. In a growing sea of scruffiness, it’s nice to have one stick in the mud to cling to. …
Stud of the Week: Philly pitcher Matt Strahm, who slammed MLB teams for extending alcohol sales past the seventh inning since games are now ending sooner.
“The reason we stopped (selling alcohol) in the seventh before was to give our fans time to sober up and drive home safe, correct?” he said.
Correct.
Dud of the Week: Whoever counted 42,000 people at UF’s Orange and Blue Game. Let’s hope that person sobered up and drove home safely. …
Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, Memphis’s Ja Morant and Miami’s Tyler Herro were all injured in NBA playoff action Sunday. New Orleans’ Zion Williamson was so distressed at the news he announced he’ll be out another eight months. …
Cheers for Trinity Thomas, jeers for Olivia Dunne
Kudos to Florida’s Trinity Thomas for coming off the injured list to get her record-tying 28th career perfect score at the NCAA gymnastics championship last Saturday. In a just world, she’d be making $3 million a year in NIL. …
Speaking of which, LSU pinup girl/gymnast Olivia Dunne (zero career perfect scores) didn’t compete, but she probably made $100,000 tweeting about what she wore to bed the night before the meet. …
The PGA Tour is essentially going to fine Rory McIlroy $3 million for skipping last week’s RBC Heritage, one of the tour’s “designated” tournaments. Yikes. For that kind of money, McIlroy should have hired Phil Mickelson to play right-handed, speak with an Irish accent and pretend to be him at Hilton Head.
And Phil probably would have done it. …
In keeping with MLB rules, Gannett Co. now allows readers to drink through all nine innings of this column. …
The USFL season kicked off Sunday, right in the middle of the XFL season. Question: If a scheduling mix-up pitted the USFL’s Seattle Sea Dragons against the XFL’s DC Defenders, would anyone notice? ...
Hair Redux: The Yankees’ grooming policy states: "All players, coaches, and male executives are forbidden to display any facial hair other than mustaches (except for religious reasons), and scalp hair may not be grown below the collar.”
What about female executives? These days, you never know …
Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. hit a foul ball last week that was caught by his father and 16-year MLB veteran Bobby Witt Sr. It was the greatest father-son baseball feat since Pete Rose and Pete Rose Jr. both hit an exacta at Santa Anita Park before a Reds game in 1987. …
This Just In: MLB owners have voted to ship Matt Strahm to the Class A Peoria Chiefs, where he will have to guzzle Bud Light until he recants his stance on beer sales. ...
Arch Manning is no Peyton Manning ... yet
Freshman Arch Manning did not throw 12 touchdown passes in Texas’ spring game Saturday. Is it too soon to call him a bust? ...
Sports Illustrated reports the Yankees and Reds are the only MLB teams that do not provide complimentary WiFi on their team planes. But the Yankees do provide free charging stations for players who need to recharge their electric shavers. …
Could you imagine Babe Ruth wearing a man bun? ...
FirstEnergy Stadium is no more after Cleveland ended that naming rights deal. In honor of massage connoisseur Deshaun Watson, the Browns plan to rename their field Non-Disclosure Agreement Stadium. …
That’s about all the space we have for this week’s Whitley’s Believe It or Not. If you had to drink to make it all the way through, please call an Uber to take you to your next destination.
David Whitley is The Gainesville Sun's sports columnist. Contact him at dwhitley@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidEWhitley
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: New York Yankees grooming policy stands out in MLB's hairy jungle | Whitley
